that we have yet to develop prevention or cures for, drug discovery is literally a race against time to identify effective treatments, and the microfluidic technology we develop here at Epigem is being used more and more on the front line of medical development.

So how can microfluidics be used to more effectively test drug development? Read on as we detail some of the

Applicable to Large-scale Studies

A common method for studying ion channels in living cells is ‘patch clamping’ and, usually achieved by pressing the point of a glass pipette against the membrane of a cell, this technique is ideal for small-scale testing.

However, when it comes to large scale testing this process is incredibly time-consuming, and as a result microfluidics is emerging as a useful device for accelerating drug discovery in larger-scale studies. That is because microfluidics allows for the miniaturisation and the automation of various lab techniques (including patch clamping) which are then used to fabricate a microscopic aperture in which

Observe Results in More Natural Environments

One main drawback of in vitro drug discovery is that the tested cells are within an environment that does not represent their natural habitat. Static cell cultures are not representative of real applications, for example this method

microfluidics can be used to acquire information that is inaccessible via macroscopic systems. This is because fluids behave differently when stored in confined spaces, and these unique behaviours can then be used to analyse results in more detail.

If you’d like to find out more about our work in microfluidics, and how it can used to great effect in regards to drug discovery, you can get in touch with our team on 01642 496 300.